Lace



' Dec. 29, 1942.- A W IGHT 2,306,515

LACE

Filed Aug. 1, 1941 INVENTOR Patented Dec. 29, 1942 UNITED STATESPATEN'IFOFFICE LACE 7 Arthur Wright, Forest Hills, N. Y. 7 ApplicationAugust 1, 1941,. Serial No. 404,99;

8 Claims. 01. 24-143) Y My invention relates particularly to a laceadapted to retain its position when tied. These laces are particularlyapplicable for use in shoes but may be used wherever desired.

The object of my invention is to provide a lace which will reduce thetendency to form knots when being untied and which, furthermore, is soconstructed as to retain a bow-knot in place so as to not become untiedunintentionally. In laces as hitherto made there have been two distinctdisadvantages. One is the tendency of the bow-knot to become untied andthe other is the tendency to become knotted when the bow-knot is beinguntied in the usual way by pulling on one of the free ends of the lace.The object of my invention is to construct shoe laces as to obviate bothof these disadvantages. In untying a bow-knot by pulling on a free endof the lace in the usual way a hard knot will result if a free end ofthe lace has inadvertently passed through one of the loops to the otherside of the lace. With laces constructed as hereinafter described thefree end of the lace is made stiif so that it will not, dueto itslimpness, fall through the loop to the other side of the lace, and,accord-. ingly, the end of the lace will remain in position on the sideof the loop where it was originally located when the bow-knot was tied,so that when a free end of the lace is pulled the bowknot will becomeuntied without forming a knot. stiffening throughout the length of thelace would be distinctly disadvantageous, however, as it would make theformation of the loop and. knot diificult. Another object is to applymeans to prevent slipping of the lace in the bow-knot, so as to preventthe unintentional untying of the knot. Further objects of my inventionwill appear from the detailed description of the same hereinafter,

While my invention is capable of embodiment in many difierent forms, forthe purpose of illustration I have shown only certain forms thereof inthe accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of afiat tubular lace made in accordance with my invention, shown inabow-knot;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a modified form thereof showing a fiat tubularlace having its free ends stiffened with straight staples;

Fig, 3 is a side elevation of the same; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of alace such as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, but with staples having a wavy formdue to lateral turns in the staples in the plane of the lace to retainthe staples better in position. a

"In carrying out my invention, referring first to Fig. 1, I have shownthe usual type of flat tubular woven,textile fibre shoe lace I havingtwo metal tips'2, one on each end thereof. The metal tip 2 is comprisedof a thin sheet of metal formed into a cylinder by folding the freeedgesof the metal cylindrically until the edges of the sheet metal areadjacent or overlapping in the usual way. The free end of the shoe laceat each end of the latter,in accordance with my invention, may beprovided with a stiffening element 3 in the form of afiexible rod, suchas anykind of bristle, but which is preferably comprised of athick Nylonbristle from %,;to in diameter, extending from the outer end of the tip2 within the tubular fiat lace I to some point between the fold of aloop 3a of the shoe lace when formed into the bow-knot and the outer endof the tip 2. In other words, the bristle 3 stiffens the free end of theshoe lace between the fold of the loop of the bow-knot and the tip 2,while the remainder of the shoe lace not comprising the free, endsthereofv remains unstiffened so as not to interfere with the formationof the bow knot. I a

Fig. 2 shows a modification of the invention in which, the shoe lace I,having the tip 2, is provided, the same asin Fig.1, but in which thestiffening of the free ends of the shoe lace is attainedby introducingalong the free ends of the shoe lace, instead of the bristle 3, a'series 'of staples 4 having rod-like bodies, which may be introducedthrough the shoe lace from one or the other of the fiat sides thereof bya stapling machine so that the free ends 5 of thc staples becomeembedded within the body of the shoe lace I. In this way the ends of thestaples will not catch on the fingers but at the same time the free endsof the shoe lace are stiffened so as to prevent the ends of the lacefrom falling through the loops and the unintentional knotting of thelace when the bow-knot therein is being untied by pulling on the freeend of the lace. At the same time, however, when the lace, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3, is tied into a bow-knot with a knot 6 of the bow locatedat some point along the series of staples 4. The protuberances formed bythe series of staples will hold the'knot in place and prevent the freeends of the shoe lace working accidentally towards the untied positionof the loop,

In Fig. 4 I have shown another embodiment, which is the same as thatshown in Fig. 3 except that in this instance staples 1 are used havingtwo lateral wavyofisets 8 and 9 which tend to hold the staples 1 fixedlyin position to prevent their turning axially and thus make theprotuberances formed by the staples more efiective in holding the endsof the shoe lace in place in the bow-knot formed therein.

Instead of the stifiening of the end of the shoe lace by the rod 3 orstaples 4 or I I may stilfen the same portion of the shoe lace, but withnot so much advantage as in connection with the forms previouslydescribed herein, by impregnating or coating the same end portions ofthe shoe lace with or without the presence of the rod 3' or staples 4 orI, with any suitable material, as for example liquid shoe polish, acolored collodion solution or a melted wax such as paraffin, beeswax,etc., while leaving the remainder of the lace without any coating orimpregnation. This will also have a water-proofing effect, by coveringthe staples 4 or 1 for example, in addition to the stifiening of theends of the shoe lace.

In the operation of the laces which, as above pointed out, may be usedin shoes or for any other desired purpose, the various embodiments ofthe invention will, due to the stiffening of the shoe lace between thefold of the loop and the end of the lace, keep the end of the laceextended so as to retain its original position and prevent its fallingthrough the loop of the lace, so that when the end of the lace is pulledto untie the loop it will not form a hard I'r'not. Also, theprotuberances on the staples prevent the shoe laces becomingunintentionally untied. Accordingly, when using the laces constructed asabove the annoyance and inconvenience due to the shoe laces becominginadvertently untied or becoming tied into hard knots when being untied,are obviated.

However, it will be noted that the bristles and staples are notequivalent inasmuch as the staples, due to their protuberances, preventthe unintentional untying of the bow-knot.

While I have described my invention above in detail I wish it to beunderstood that many changes may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit of the same.

I claim:

1. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stifiening elements in the form of a series of staples locatedalong each of the free ends of the lace which are separated by anunstifiened portion of the lace.

2. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stiifening elements in the form of a series of staples formingprotuberances located along each of the free ends of the lace which areseparated by an unstiifened portion of the lace each of the stapleshaving its ends bent inwardly so as to be directed toward each other.

3. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stiffening elements in the form of a series of laterally-wavedstaples located along each of the free ends of the lace which areseparated by an unstiffened por- 'tlon of the lace each of the stapleshaving its ends bent inwardly so as to be directed toward each other.

4. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stifiening elements in the form of a series of laterally-wavedstaples forming protuberances located along each of the free ends of thelace which are separated by an unstifiened portion of the lace each ofthe staples having its ends bent inwardly so as to be directed towardeach other.

5. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stiffening elements in the form of a series of staples locatedalong a free end of the lace.

6. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stiffening elements in the form of a series of staples formingprotuberances located along a free end of the lace, each of the stapleshaving its ends bent inwardly so as to be directed toward each other.

'7. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stiffening elements in the form of a series of laterally-wavedstaples located along a free end of the lace, each of the staples havingits ends bent inwardly so as to be directed toward each other.

8. An article of manufacture, comprising a lace having tips thereon andhaving stifiening elements in the form of a series of laterally-wavedstaples forming protuberances located along a free end of the lace, eachof the staples having its ends bent inwardly so as to be directed towardeach other.

ARTHUR WRIGHT.

